There's nothing like some undead Templar knights to spice up a party. This is the second in director Amando De Ossorio's Blind Dead series and has both strengths and weaknesses when compared to its predecessor Tombs Of The Blind Dead. Many people feel as though this second entry is the best in the series but I am still partial to the original although I can see why some people prefer the sequel.

Our story begins in the town of Berzano in Portugal where the locals are throwing a party to commemorate the day that the knights were slain. What they forgot is that the knights swore vengeance and with the help of the town creep named Murdo (Jose Canalejas), the knights rise again. After a pitstop at the home of a young girl and her lover as well as a train station, the zombie knights arrive in the town square to put an end to the festivities in a lengthy yet unsatisfying slaughter sequence. Finally, a group of people escape to take refuge in a church and we find ourselves in Night Of The Living Dead territory as our survivors try to figure a way out of their situation as the church is soon surrounded by the silent but deadly Templars. We have the standard characters in the group including the cool and cocky hero (Tony Kendall), the scared and stupid mayor (Fernando Sancho), the mayor's wife (Esperanza Roy) who wants the hero, the mayor's assistant (Frank Brana) who wants the wife, a yummy young woman (Loretta Tovar), and a husband and wife with their little girl.

This entry in the series gives the zombies a lot more screen time than the original but sometimes less can indeed be more. Much of the time that the zombies are onscreen is wasted as the scene where they arise is recycled footage from the original and the big town slaughter sequence ran on a little long as the Templars are mostly just looking scary on their horses thrusting their swords at anything that moves. This results in what looks like an overdone action sequence where de Ossorio didn't seem like he was sure what he wanted so he just kept shooting footage while not preparing for anything in particular. It was one of those scenes where you kept thinking it was over but it kept going. At any rate, the knights still look extremely cool and if ever there was a vision of what the four horsemen of the Apocalypse would look like, it is the knights from these films.

When the survivors finally escape from the town and shack up in the church is where the movie gains steam. The Templars are present in these scenes but rather than consistently banging on the windows like your standard hungry flesh-eaters, these guys just stand in silence as they wait for their prey to attempt to escape from the church. We are given a number of instances of these escape attempts and that is when the zombies do what they do best. They reminded me of crocodiles waiting for their prey. The situation that the survivors are in and their history with each other leads to a high amount of tension inside the church as well. Although I have seen numerous characters with more personality than these chaps in other films, it was still an improvement over the original. I also found this one to be slightly gorier with an arm chopping, a decapitation, a number of sword impalings, and a nasty flashback that featuring some blood drinking and heart eating.

Alternatively, the location of El Cercon monastery was one of the real stars of Tombs as it lent itself to the gloomy atmosphere and added a certain mood to the shots of the slo-mo Templars. This mood was somewhat missing from this film as we were stuck in a very small location in this film and the Templars didn't seem as scary when they were not on their own turf. Still, this was a fitting entry into the series that stands on it's own as a decent companion to Tombs.

Lone Fleming who plays the mother of the little girl was one of the stars of the original. Tony Kendall starred in Mario Bava's The Whip And The Body with Christopher Lee. Frank Brana was in Pieces as well as numerous Italian crime thrillers and spaghetti westerns and I thought he was the coolest character in the film (at least until he got overly horny). The beautiful Loretta Tovar also appeared in de Ossorio's Night Of The Sorcerers and When The Screaming Stops. (Josh Pasnak, 6/18/06)

Directed By: Amando de Ossorio.
Written By: Amando de Ossorio.

Starring: Tony Kendall, Fernando Sancho, Esperanza Roy, Frank Brana.